The merits of mechanical aortic valve have been reiterated by the study of Weber et al. [4]. They selected a cohort of 103 patients younger than 60 years old with the Perimount Carpentier-Edwards pericardial tissue valve and compared them with a propensity matched group of 103 patients with mechanical bileaflet aortic valve over a period of 10 years. Surprisingly, valve-related event rates were...

Background. Mitral valve replacement can be very difficult to obtain in infants because the valve annulus diameter can be smaller than the available prosthesis. Case Report. We describe the case of a 2-month-old female weighing 3.5 kg affected by mitral valve dysplasia leading to severe valve stenosis. Despite full medication, the clinical conditions were critical and surgery was undertaken. Th...

Prosthetic valve replacement remains the most viable alternative for the treatment of severely diseased heart valves. The cumulative experience of mechanical protheses and bioprostheses was evaluated for a 10-year performance comparison: Carpentier-Edwards standard porcine bioprosthesis (CE-S), 1,214 operations; Carpentier-Edwards supraannular porcine bioprosthesis (CE-SAV), 2,489; and mechanic...

BACKGROUND The initial trial in tricuspid surgery is repair; however, replacement is done whenever the valve is badly diseased. Tricuspid valve replacement comprises 1.7% of all tricuspid valve surgeries. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present retrospective study was performed using the medical records of 21 cases who underwent tricuspid valve replacement from January 2002 until the end of Decembe...

Article history: Received 27 July 2011 Received in revised form 24 May 2012 Accepted 24 May 2012 Available online 28 July 2012

Survival in young adult patients after mechanical aortic valve replacement is reported to be significantly reduced compared with the general ageand gender-matched population, whereas survival after the Ross procedure is excellent and comparable to that in the general population. There is ongoing debate about whether the excellent survival rates observed in Ross patients are a consequence of a h...

Mathematical models can provide valuable information to assess and evaluate the mechanical behavior and remodeling of native tissue. A relevant example when studying collagen remodeling is the Ross procedure because it involves placing the pulmonary autograft in the more demanding aortic valve mechanical environment. The objective of this study was therefore to assess and evaluate the mechanica...

OBJECTIVE Pulmonary valve replacement is performed increasingly late after correction of Tetralogy of Fallot. Most reports deal with pulmonary allografts as the valvar substitute of choice, although late deterioration and reoperation(s) are the rule. Mechanical valves are scarcely reported and if so only because of complications. Although life-long anticoagulation therapy is indicated for mecha...

Recently, several new anticoagulants have been used instead of warfarin for preventing thromboembolism. In the RE-LY (Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy) trial, the direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran etexilate was as an effective and safe as dose-adjusted warfarin for prevention of stroke in high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation. However, the safety and efficacy ...

Objective(s): Tissue engineering represents a new approach to solve the current complications of the heart valve replacements by offering viable valve prosthesis with growth and remodeling capability. In this project, electrospinning and dip coating techniques were used to fabricate heart valve constructs from medical grade polyurethane (PU). Methods: Fir...